The original plan was to play Sam Mustafa’s Blücher rules in 28mm.. Many were sceptical, I carried on. More doubts were raised and then I caved. Much bad language was to be heard in the hobby room and regiments became companies for ‘Rebels and Patriots’ and”Colt-action” ( a Bolt Action variant). The germ of an idea was there though and the answer was a reduction in scale. I know most gamers would have concluded this a little earlier but I don’t pretend to be the brightest cookie!

My Ancient and Medieval collection is being reorganised, and rebased, on larger Impetvs style bases and so why not start the dawn of modern warfare in the same scale? The American Civil War is such an exciting and heroic period to depict, as well as skirmishes, why not recreate the massive battles too. Greater minds have been already at work though. Commands and Colors were an early inspiration. The plan is to collect the two sides for Battle Cry but using Blücher bases. Battle Cry is a simplistic set of rules, depending on C and C dice rolls, but the scenarios are just what I was looking for.

The rulebook is free from GMT if you are interested. Contained within the book is more than enough for a starter battle. Bobthepainter website is great place for inspiration of what the Commands and Colors system can look like with miniatures.

For adapting the battles to Blücher, the pre-eminent site is the Oldmeldrumwargamesgroup . The scenarios are all ready to go at the site below:

Honourable mention must also go to Hexesandminiatures.com who provide all you need to play Napoleonic Battles and the ACW on hex based battlefields. The site is a goldmine of hobby related ideas and the author is very friendly and helpful.

If that were not enough, Armchair Dragoons on YouTube even let you watch Blücher battles as they are fought!

With all this information I was off again! Lancashire Games’ new range of miniatures and my first three units are done. After being brain washed by the classic “Horse Soldiers” in my childhood, I had to start with the U.S. Cavalry. As usual the Contrast Paints were a joy to use and so quick! These took about seven hours from base metal to finish, so not too bad in terms of time commitment. As is usual I only needed three for the Battle Cry scenarios but I thought I’d make it up to six just in case visitors called over Christmas!

Thanks for reading

Progress report on Ancients next- after I’ve hunted down the guidons for the units below!

Michael